168 



THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



last, the wasps robbed us of three hundred 

 bunches, the value of which would have paid 

 for the netting, which is useful at all seasons for 

 all sorts of purposes, shading, protecting, ftc. 

 We do not know of any separate treatise on the 

 Passion Flower. 

 Bee Keepinc..— II'. — The hive you enquire about is 

 the invention of Sir. Tegetmier, of Musweil Hill. 

 It has a set of bars which are moveable, or fixed, 

 at the pleasure of the bee keeper, so that the 

 hive may be moved any distance without break- 

 ing the combs, and any individual comb may be 

 lifted out at pleasure. The "Indicator Bee 

 Stand," invented by Mr. Hibberd, and to be 

 seen at 5, Barbican, London, shows the daily 

 increase of honey in the hive without the neces- 

 sity of moving or even touching it — as its name 

 implies, it is literally "self- indicating." You 

 must not suppose we have no love lor bees be- 

 cause we give them no place in our pages ; on 

 the contrary, we count them among the most 

 precious of our garden favourites. The best 

 book on bee keeping is Taylor's. 



Cacti.— H. W. B., Wells. — Tonr flower came to 

 hand quite crushed and mouldy, as might be 

 expected of so fleshy a thing sent unprotected 

 in a common envelope. We could not even lay 

 out a few petals to judge of it. The Cactus proper 

 is now classed as Melocactus ; Epiphyllum is 

 ranged under Phyllanthce. Epiphyllums produce 

 leaf-like branches, on the edges of which the 

 flowers are borne ; in Cactus the growth is globose 

 and furrowed. A botanical genius is wanted to 

 set the whole of the Cactus family in order; at 

 present, it is almost impossible to convey an 

 idea of the several divisions by written descrip- 

 tions. 



Books on Botant — ./ B. — Hogg's " Vegetable 

 Kingdom," is the best and cheapest work on the 

 families of plants; Lindley's " Vegetable King- 

 dom" is a fine book, but more expensive than 

 Hoggs. Lindley's "Ladies Botany," and Mrs. 

 Loudon's " Botany for Ladies " are also admira- 

 ble works for beginners of either sex. Your plant 

 is Glycine sinensis. 



METEOROLOGICAL CALENDAR FOR JULY. 



AVERAGES FOR THE ENSUING MONTH. 



Taking the averages of the last sixteen years the temperature of July is: — Max. 73°; min., 53° ; 

 meaD, 61$°; being 3 Q higher than the month of June, 7',° higher than May; 20° higher than April; 

 23J° higher than January. The average fall of rain in July is 2.7 inches, exceeding the amount of 

 any other month in the year; the average temperature of the dew point, is 54, showing an immense 

 capability in the atmosphere, to hold water in suspension, which is further shown in the fact that 

 a cubic foot of air contains on an average, 4.6 grains of water, exactly double the amount held in 

 suspension in the month of February. The highest temperature recorded in the month of July during 

 the observations of the past thirty-one years, occurred on 5th, 1852 — Thermometer 97° ; ami the lowest 

 on the 9th, 1856 — Thermometer 37^. 



PHASES OF THE MOON" FOK JULY, 185S. 

 d. Last Quarter, 4th, Gh. 42m. a.m. • New Moon, 10th. 9h. 24m. p.m. 



J First Quarter, 17th, Sh. 39m. p.m. O Foil Moon, 25th, 3m. after midnight 



MEETINGS AND EXHIBITIONS, JULY, 1858. 



Thursday, 1st, National Rose Show, St. James's Hall, Piccadilly; Brighton and 

 Sussex Ploricultural ; Dublin Royal Horticultural. — Tuesday, 6th, Horticultural 

 Society of London.— Wednesday, 7th, Stamford Floral Society. — Thursday, 8th, 

 British Pomological, St. Martin's Hall; Dumfries Floral Society. — Wednesday, 14th, 

 Whitby. — Thursday, 22nd, British Pomological ; Sleaford Floricultural and Horticul- 

 tural. — Tuesday, 27th, Handsworth (Birmingham). — Wednesday, 28th, Oxford. 



%* Secretaries will oblige by forwarding Announcements, Schedules t $c, of forthcoming 



Exhibitions. 



